Houghton Mifflin agrees to buy Harcourt divisions for $4 bln

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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Houghton Mifflin Co. said Monday it has agreed to acquire Reed Elsevier's
rukENL, +1.22%REL, +1.25%
Harcourt Education, Harcourt Trade and Greenwood-Heinemann divisions for $3.7 billion in cash and $300 million in stock of parent company Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC. When the deal closes, U.K-based Reed Elsevier will hold a roughly 11.8% stake in Houghton Mifflin's parent. The transaction is expected to close in late 2007 or early 2008.

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